Henry Ford - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Google Henry Ford: Early Life & Engineering Career Born in 1863, Henry Ford was the first surviving son of William and Mary Ford, who owned a prosperous farm in Dearborn, Michigan . At 16, he left home for the nearby city of Detroit, where he found apprentice work as a machinist. He returned to Dearborn and work on the family farm after three years, but continued to operate and service steam engines and work occasional stints in Detroit factories. In 1888, he married Clara Bryant, who had grown up on a nearby farm. Did You Know? The mass production techniques Henry Ford championed eventually allowed Ford Motor Company to turn out one Model T every 24 seconds. In the first several years of their marriage, Ford supported himself and his new wife by running a sawmill. In 1891, he returned with Clara to Detroit, where he was hired as an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company. Rising quickly through the ranks, he was promoted to chief engineer two years later. Around the same time, Clara gave birth to the couple’s only son, Edsel Bryant Ford.

On call 24 hours a day for his job at Edison, Ford spent his irregular hours on his efforts to build a gasoline-powered horseless carriage, or automobile. In 1896, he completed what he called the “Quadricycle,” which consisted of a light metal frame fitted with four bicycle wheels and powered by a two-cylinder, four-horsepower gasoline engine. Henry Ford: Birth of Ford Motor Company and the Model T Determined to improve upon his prototype, Ford sold the Quadricycle in order to continue building other vehicles. He received backing from various investors over the next seven years, some of whom formed the Detroit Automobile Company (later the Henry Ford Company) in 1899. His partners, eager to put a passenger car on the market, grew frustrated with Ford’s constant need to improve, and Ford left his namesake company in 1902. (After his departure, it was reorganized as the Cadillac Motor Car Company.) The following year, Ford established the Ford Motor Company. A month after the Ford Motor Company was established, the first Ford car—the two-cylinder, eight-horsepower Model A—was assembled at a plant on Mack Avenue in Detroit.

At the time, only a few cars were assembled per day, and groups of two or three workers built them by hand from parts that were ordered from other companies. Ford was dedicated to the production of an efficient and reliable automobile that would be affordable for everyone; the result was the Model T , which made its debut in October 1908. Henry Ford: Production & Labor Innovations The “Tin Lizzie,” as the Model T was known, was an immediate success, and Ford soon had more orders than the company could satisfy. As a result, he put into practice techniques of mass production that would revolutionize American industry, including the use of large production plants; standardized, interchangeable parts; and the moving assembly line. Mass production significantly cut down on the time required to produce an automobile, which allowed costs to stay low. In 1914, Ford also increased the daily wage for an eight-hour day for his workers to $5 (up from $2.34 for nine hours), setting a standard for the industry. Even as production went up, demand for the Tin Lizzie remained high, and by 1918, half of all cars in America were Model Ts.

In 1919, Ford named his son Edsel as president of Ford Motor Company, but he retained full control of the company’s operations. After a court battle with his stockholders, led by brothers Horace and John Dodge, Henry Ford bought out all minority stockholders by 1920. In 1927, Ford moved production to a massive industrial complex he had built along the banks of the River Rouge in Dearborn, Michigan. The plant included a glass factory, steel mill, assembly line and all other necessary components of automotive production. That same year, Ford ceased production of the Model T, and introduced the new Model A, which featured better horsepower and brakes, among other improvements. By that time, the company had produced some 15 million Model Ts, and Ford Motor Company was the largest automotive manufacturer in the world. Ford opened plants and operations throughout the world. Henry Ford: Later Career & Controversial Views The Model A proved to be a relative disappointment, and was outsold by both Chevrolet (made by General Motors) and Plymouth (made by Chrysler); it was discontinued in 1931.

In 1932, Ford introduced the first V-8 engine, but by 1936 the company had dropped to number three in sales in the automotive industry. Despite his progressive policies regarding the minimum wage, Ford waged a long battle against unionization of labor, refusing to come to terms with the United Automobile Workers (UAW) even after his competitors did so. In 1937, Ford security staff clashed with UAW organizers in the so-called “Battle of the Overpass,” at the Rouge plant, after which the National Labor Relations Board ordered Ford to stop interfering with union organization. Ford Motor Company signed its first contract with UAW in 1941, but not before Henry Ford considered shutting down the company to avoid it. Ford’s political views earned him widespread criticism over the years, beginning with his campaign against U.S. involvement in World War I . He made a failed bid for a U.S. Senate seat in 1918, narrowly losing in a campaign marked by personal attacks from his opponent.

In the Dearborn Independent, a local newspaper he bought in 1918, Ford published a number of anti-Semitic writings that were collected and published as a four volume set called The International Jew. Though he later renounced the writings and sold the paper, he expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler and Germany, and in 1938 accepted the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, the Nazi regime’s highest medal for a foreigner. Edsel Ford died in 1943, and Henry Ford returned to the presidency of Ford Motor Company briefly before handing it over to his grandson, Henry Ford II, in 1945. He died two years later at his Dearborn home, at the age of 83. Tags Henry Ford II - Ford Wiki Henry Ford II Jump to: navigation , search Henry Ford II (September 4, 1917 — September 29, 1987), commonly known as "HF2" and "Hank the Deuce", was the son of Edsel Ford and grandson of Henry Ford .

He was president of the Ford Motor Company from 1945 to 1960, Board of directors and Chief executive officer from 1960 to 1979, and chairman for several months thereafter. Contents Private life Birth and childhood Ford was born in Detroit, Michigan to Eleanor Clay Ford and Edsel Ford on September 4, 1917. He and his brothers, Benson and William, grew up amid affluence, but their father tried to make sure that they understood the meaning of work and money. Adulthood Ford had three children: Charlotte, Anne, and Edsel Ford II . He died in Detroit at Henry Ford Hospital on September 29,1987, at the age of 70. Business career When his father Edsel , the president of Ford, died of cancer in May 1943 (during World War II), Henry Ford II was serving in the United States Navy, and was thus unable to take over the presidency of the family-owned business. The elderly and ailing Henry Ford , company founder, decided to assume the presidency.

By this point in his life, he was mentally inconsistent, suspicious, and generally no longer fit for such a job; most of the directors did not want to see him as president. But for the past 20 years, although he had long been without any official executive title, he had always had de facto control over the company; the board and the management had never seriously defied him, and this moment was not different. The directors elected him, [1] and he served until the end of the war. During this period the company began to decline, losing over $10 million a month. The administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had been considering a government takeover of the company in order to ensure continued war production, but the idea never progressed to execution. Henry Ford II left the navy in July 1943 and joined the company's management a few weeks later. After 2 years, he took over the presidency of the company on September 21, 1945.

Since it had been assumed that Edsel Ford would continue in his capacity as president of the company for much longer than turned out to actually be the case, Henry Ford II had received little grooming for the position, and he took over the company during a chaotic period; its Europe factories had suffered a great deal of damage during the war, and domestic sales were also in decline. Henry Ford II immediately adopted an aggressive management style. One of his first acts as company president was to fire Harry Bennett , head of the Ford Service Department, who had originally been hired by Henry Ford to stifle attempts at Unionization. Next, acknowledging his inexperience, he hired several seasoned executives to support him. He hired former General Motors Corporation executives Ernest Breech and Lewis Crusoe away from the Bendix Corporation. Breech was to serve in the coming years as HF2's business mentor, and the Breech–Crusoe team would form the core of Ford's business expertise, offering much-needed experience. Additionally, HF2 hired ten young up-and-comers, known as the " Whiz Kids ". These ten, gleaned from an Army Air Forces statistical team, HF2 envisioned as giving the company the ability to innovate and stay current with the times.

Two of them, Arjay Miller and Robert McNamara , would go on to serve as president of Ford themselves. A third member, J. Edward Lundy , served in key financial roles for several decades and helped to establish Ford Finance's reputation as one of the best Finance organizations in the world. As a team, the "whiz kids" are probably best remembered as the design team for the 1949 Ford, which they took from concept to production in nineteen months, and which re-established Ford as a formidable automotive company. It was reported that 100,000 orders for this car were taken the day it was introduced to the market. He was president of Ford Motor Company from 1945 to 1960. The company became a publicly traded corporation under his leadership in 1956. When he resigned the presidency, he became CEO of the company. On July 13, 1960 he was additionally elected Chairman; he resigned as CEO on October 1, 1979, and as Chairman in 1980. His nephew, William Clay Ford, Jr.

would later assume these positions after 20 years of non-Ford family management of the company. During the interim, the family interests were represented on the board by Henry's younger brother William Clay Ford, Sr. , as well as his son Edsel Ford II and his nephew William Clay Ford, Jr. Upon the release of the CVCC engine by Honda Motor Company, Ford 's then-President Lee Iacocca was highly interested in adopting the new engine in a small Ford vehicle, possibly the Pinto or Fiesta - perhaps even going as far to sell the Honda Civic as a Ford. The plan was scuttled by Henry Ford II, who stated: "No car with my name on the hood is going to have a Jap engine inside." (Note: This quote comes from Iacocca's autobiography nearly a decade after Iacocca was fired. It also flies in the face of common sense, since Ford Motor Company had been selling a Mazda truck as the Ford Courier since late 1971 and HFII personally signed off on every new car -- while the CVCC wasn't tested by the EPA until October 1972). This bit of anger was perhaps understandable for a man who had served in the U.S.

Navy during World War II, but the Ford company did go on to adapt to the era in which Japanese, German, and American participation in a globalized automobile industry became tightly integrated. For example, Ford's relationship with Mazda was well developed even before the end of HF2's period of influence. HF2's management style caused the company's fortunes to fluctuate in more ways than one. For example, his offering of Public stock in 1956 raised 650 million USD for the company, but the "experimental car" program instituted during his tenure, the Edsel , lost the company almost half that. Likewise, HF2 hired the creative Lee Iacocca , godfather to the Ford Mustang , in 1964, but fired Iacocca due to personal disputes in 1978 (about the break in their relationship, HF2 was famously quoted as saying, "Sometimes you just don't like somebody"). Nevertheless, Henry Ford II's overall influence on the company was substantial. By the time he retired as Chairman in 1980, Ford Motor Company was the fourth-largest industrial corporation in the world.

He retired as an officer and employee of Ford Motor Company on October 1, 1982, four weeks after his 65th birthday. Ford was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1996. References ↑ Sorensen 1956 , p. 325-326. Bibliography . Various republications, including ISBN 9780814332795 . See also Henry Ford, II (1917 - 1987) - Find A Grave Memorial Wayne County Michigan, USA Businessman. An automobile magnate, he was born the first of four children to Edsel and Eleanor Clay Ford, (and was the first grandchild of industrial pioneer Henry Ford). In May 1943, his father Edsel Ford died, and his frail aging grandfather Henry Ford became company President again. Henry Ford II was serving in the United States Navy when he was discharged and came back to help run the company. In 1945, with the help of his mother Eleanor Ford and grandmother Clara Ford, they helped convince his grandfather to step down and allow him to become President of Ford Motor Company.

According to one executive "The Company was dead, and rigor mortis had set in." He hired a group who became known as the �Whiz Kids�, which included future United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, to cut costs of the company. In 1949, the '49' Ford came out, and is considered one of the many cars that saved Ford Motor. In the 1970s, with the recession on, and gas rationed along with high prices, Henry Ford still believed America only wanted big cars, but Ford executive Lee Iaccoca convinced him to invest in the Ford �Pinto�. By the late 1970s, Lee Iaccoca was fired. When asked why, he stated," Sometimes people just don't like each other." His standard line, when he was asked why he did it that way was, "Never Complain, Never Explain." He was married three times, and had three children by his first wife Anne McDonnell. Charlotte, Anne, and Edsel, named after his father. He died at Henry Ford Hospital in 1987.

(bio by: Joel Hurley) Henry Ford II leaves post at Ford Foundation - May 08, 1956 - HISTORY.com Henry Ford II leaves post at Ford Foundation Share this: Henry Ford II leaves post at Ford Foundation Author Henry Ford II leaves post at Ford Foundation URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1956, Henry Ford II, the namesake and grandson of the legendary automobile pioneer, resigns as chairman of his family’s charitable organization, the Ford Foundation. Henry II’s father, Edsel Ford, created the Ford Foundation in 1936 as a legal way for the family to escape the so-called “soak the rich” taxes imposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration on estates worth more than $50 million. The foundation would receive the bulk of the elder Henry Ford’s estate, as well as an endowment from Edsel’s, resulting in a 95 percent (non-voting) stake in Ford Motor Company valued at almost $493 million. This guaranteed $25 million of dividends per year, making the Ford Foundation by far the richest charity in the country.

When Henry Ford died in 1947, the foundation saved the Ford family more than $321 million in inheritance taxes alone. By that time Edsel Ford was dead as well, and Ford Motor was struggling, losing some $9 million each year. Having seized the reins from his ailing grandfather in 1945, Henry II took the company public in 1955, and would earn credit for restoring Ford as one of the world’s great industrial powers. At the time of its creation, the Ford Foundation’s vague mission was to give money “for scientific, educational and charitable purposes, all for the public welfare.” Under Henry II’s leadership, the foundation ran a study to determine how it should operate in the future. Instead of focusing on any particular field, which at the time was the traditional approach of most foundations, the study group recommended that the foundation become a national and international philanthropic institution that sought to address the world’s most pressing needs, wherever they might be. Based in New York City from 1953 on, the Ford Foundation became increasingly independent after Ford Motor Company went public. Henry II resigned as chairman in May 1956 but continued to act as a trustee until 1976.

By that time, the foundation had become known for its support of such causes as public broadcasting, the arts and humanities and the development of business, education and community in poor countries around the world. Until the establishment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, the Ford Foundation consistently ranked first among U.S. foundations for the most assets and the highest annual giving. Related Videos Henry Ford | American industrialist | Britannica.com American industrialist Henry Ford, (born July 30, 1863, Wayne county, Michigan , U.S.—died April 7, 1947, Dearborn , Michigan), American industrialist who revolutionized factory production with his assembly-line methods. Henry Ford. Ford Motor Company Ford spent most of his life making headlines, good, bad, but never indifferent. Celebrated as both a technological genius and a folk hero, Ford was the creative force behind an industry of unprecedented size and wealth that in only a few decades permanently changed the economic and social character of the United States .

When young Ford left his father’s farm in 1879 for Detroit , only two out of eight Americans lived in cities; when he died at age 83, the proportion was five out of eight. Once Ford realized the tremendous part he and his Model T automobile had played in bringing about this change, he wanted nothing more than to reverse it, or at least to recapture the rural values of his boyhood. Henry Ford, then, is an apt symbol of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial America. The 1909 Model T. Courtesy of the Ford Motor Company Early life Henry Ford was one of eight children of William and Mary Ford. He was born on the family farm near Dearborn, Michigan, then a town eight miles west of Detroit. Abraham Lincoln was president of the 24 states of the Union, and Jefferson Davis was president of the 11 states of the Confederacy. Ford attended a one-room school for eight years when he was not helping his father with the harvest. At age 16 he walked to Detroit to find work in its machine shops.

After three years, during which he came in contact with the internal-combustion engine for the first time, he returned to the farm, where he worked part-time for the Westinghouse Engine Company and in spare moments tinkered in a little machine shop he set up. Eventually he built a small “farm locomotive,” a tractor that used an old mowing machine for its chassis and a homemade steam engine for power. Ford moved back to Detroit nine years later as a married man. His wife, Clara Bryant, had grown up on a farm not far from Ford’s. They were married in 1888, and on November 6, 1893, she gave birth to their only child, Edsel Bryant. A month later Ford was made chief engineer at the main Detroit Edison Company plant with responsibility for maintaining electric service in the city 24 hours a day. Because he was on call at all times, he had no regular hours and could experiment to his heart’s content. He had determined several years before to build a gasoline-powered vehicle, and his first working gasoline engine was completed at the end of 1893.

By 1896 he had completed his first horseless carriage, the “Quadricycle,” so called because the chassis of the four-horsepower vehicle was a buggy frame mounted on four bicycle wheels. Unlike many other automotive inventors, including Charles Edgar and J. Frank Duryea, Elwood Haynes , Hiram Percy Maxim , and his Detroit acquaintance Charles Brady King, all of whom had built self-powered vehicles before Ford but who held onto their creations, Ford sold his to finance work on a second vehicle, and a third, and so on. Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent During the next seven years he had various backers, some of whom, in 1899, formed the Detroit Automobile Company (later the Henry Ford Company), but all eventually abandoned him in exasperation because they wanted a passenger car to put on the market while Ford insisted always on improving whatever model he was working on, saying that it was not ready yet for customers. He built several racing cars during these years, including the “999” racer driven by Barney Oldfield , and set several new speed records.

In 1902 he left the Henry Ford Company, which subsequently reorganized as the Cadillac Motor Car Company. Finally, in 1903, Ford was ready to market an automobile. The Ford Motor Company was incorporated, this time with a mere $28,000 in cash put up by ordinary citizens, for Ford had, in his previous dealings with backers, antagonized the wealthiest men in Detroit. Machinery and Manufacturing The company was a success from the beginning, but just five weeks after its incorporation the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers threatened to put it out of business because Ford was not a licensed manufacturer. He had been denied a license by this group, which aimed at reserving for its members the profits of what was fast becoming a major industry. The basis of their power was control of a patent granted in 1895 to George Baldwin Selden, a patent lawyer of Rochester, New York . The association claimed that the patent applied to all gasoline-powered automobiles. Along with many rural Midwesterners of his generation, Ford hated industrial combinations and Eastern financial power. Moreover, Ford thought the Selden patent preposterous. All invention was a matter of evolution, he said, yet Selden claimed genesis.

He was glad to fight, even though the fight pitted the puny Ford Motor Company against an industry worth millions of dollars. The gathering of evidence and actual court hearings took six years. Ford lost the original case in 1909; he appealed and won in 1911. His victory had wide implications for the industry, and the fight made Ford a popular hero. Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies “I will build a motor car for the great multitude,” Ford proclaimed in announcing the birth of the Model T in October 1908. In the 19 years of the Model T’s existence, he sold 15,500,000 of the cars in the United States, almost 1,000,000 more in Canada, and 250,000 in Great Britain, a production total amounting to half the auto output of the world. The motor age arrived owing mostly to Ford’s vision of the car as the ordinary man’s utility rather than as the rich man’s luxury. Once only the rich had travelled freely around the country; now millions could go wherever they pleased.

The Model T was the chief instrument of one of the greatest and most rapid changes in the lives of the common people in history, and it effected this change in less than two decades. Farmers were no longer isolated on remote farms. The horse disappeared so rapidly that the transfer of acreage from hay to other crops caused an agricultural revolution . The automobile became the main prop of the American economy and a stimulant to urbanization—cities spread outward, creating suburbs and housing developments—and to the building of the finest highway system in the world. The remarkable birth rate of Model T’s was made possible by the most advanced production technology yet conceived. After much experimentation by Ford and his engineers, the system that had evolved by 1913–14 in Ford’s new plant in Highland Park , Michigan, was able to deliver parts, subassemblies, and assemblies (themselves built on subsidiary assembly lines ) with precise timing to a constantly moving main assembly line, where a complete chassis was turned out every 93 minutes, an enormous improvement over the 728 minutes formerly required. The minute subdivision of labour and the coordination of a multitude of operations produced huge gains in productivity.

Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest In 1914 the Ford Motor Company announced that it would henceforth pay eligible workers a minimum wage of $5 a day (compared to an average of $2.34 for the industry) and would reduce the work day from nine hours to eight, thereby converting the factory to a three-shift day. Overnight Ford became a worldwide celebrity. People either praised him as a great humanitarian or excoriated him as a mad socialist. Ford said humanitarianism had nothing to do with it. Previously profit had been based on paying wages as low as workers would take and pricing cars as high as the traffic would bear. Ford, on the other hand, stressed low pricing (the Model T cost $950 in 1908 and $290 in 1927) in order to capture the widest possible market and then met the price by volume and efficiency . Ford’s success in making the automobile a basic necessity turned out to be but a prelude to a more widespread revolution.

The development of mass-production techniques, which enabled the company eventually to turn out a Model T every 24 seconds; the frequent reductions in the price of the car made possible by economies of scale; and the payment of a living wage that raised workers above subsistence and made them potential customers for, among other things, automobiles—these innovations changed the very structure of society. Control of the company During its first five years the Ford Motor Company produced eight different models, and by 1908 its output was 100 cars a day. The stockholders were ecstatic; Ford was dissatisfied and looked toward turning out 1,000 a day. The stockholders seriously considered court action to stop him from using profits to expand. In 1909 Ford, who owned 58 percent of the stock, announced that he was only going to make one car in the future, the Model T. The only thing the minority stockholders could do to protect their dividends from his all-consuming imagination was to take him to court, which Horace and John Dodge did in 1916.

Trending Topics Opium Wars The Dodge brothers, who formerly had supplied chassis to Ford but were now manufacturing their own car while still holding Ford stock, sued Ford for what they claimed was his reckless expansion and for reducing prices of the company’s product, thereby diverting money from stockholders’ dividends. The court hearings gave Ford a chance to expound his ideas about business. In December 1917 the court ruled in favour of the Dodges; Ford, as in the Selden case, appealed, but this time he lost. In 1919 the court said that, while Ford’s sentiments about his employees and customers were nice, a business is for the profit of its stockholders. Ford, irate that a court and a few shareholders, whom he likened to parasites, could interfere with the management of his company, determined to buy out all the shareholders. He had resigned as president in December 1918 in favour of his son, Edsel, and in March 1919 he announced a plan to organize a new company to build cars cheaper than the Model T.

When asked what would become of the Ford Motor Company, he said, “Why I don’t know exactly what will become of that; the portion of it that does not belong to me cannot be sold to me, that I know.” The Dodges, somewhat inconsistently, having just taken him to court for mismanagement, vowed that he would not be allowed to leave. Ford said that if he was not master of his own company, he would start another. The ruse worked; by July 1919 Ford had bought out all seven minority stockholders. (The seven had little to complain about: in addition to being paid nearly $106,000,000 for their stock, they received a court-ordered dividend of $19,275,385 plus $1,536,749 in interest.) Ford Motor Company was reorganized under a Delaware charter in 1920 with all shares held by Ford and other family members. Never had one man controlled so completely a business enterprise so gigantic. The planning of a huge new plant at River Rouge, Michigan, had been one of the specific causes of the Dodge suit.

What Ford dreamed of was not merely increased capacity but complete self-sufficiency. World War I , with its shortages and price increases, demonstrated for him the need to control raw materials; slow-moving suppliers convinced him that he should make his own parts. Wheels, tires, upholstery, and various accessories were purchased from other companies around Detroit. As Ford production increased, these smaller operations had to speed their output; most of them had to install their own assembly lines. It became impossible to coordinate production and shipment so that each product would arrive at the right place and at the right time. At first he tried accumulating large inventories to prevent delays or stoppages of the assembly line, but he soon realized that stockpiling wasted capital. Instead he took up the idea of extending movement to inventories as well as to production. He perceived that his costs in manufacturing began the moment the raw material was separated from the earth and continued until the finished product was delivered to the consumer. The plant he built in River Rouge embodied his idea of an integrated operation encompassing production, assembly, and transportation .

To complete the vertical integration of his empire, he purchased a railroad, acquired control of 16 coal mines and about 700,000 (285,000 hectares) acres of timberland, built a sawmill, acquired a fleet of Great Lakes freighters to bring ore from his Lake Superior mines, and even bought a glassworks. The move from Highland Park to the completed River Rouge plant was accomplished in 1927. At 8 o’clock any morning, just enough ore for the day would arrive on a Ford freighter from Ford mines in Michigan and Minnesota and would be transferred by conveyor to the blast furnaces and transformed into steel with heat supplied by coal from Ford mines in Kentucky. It would continue on through the foundry molds and stamping mills and exactly 28 hours after arrival as ore would emerge as a finished automobile. Similar systems handled lumber for floorboards, rubber for tires, and so on. At the height of its success the company’s holdings stretched from the iron mines of northern Michigan to the jungles of Brazil, and it operated in 33 countries around the globe. Most remarkably, not one cent had been borrowed to pay for any of it.

It was all built out of profits from the Model T. Later years The unprecedented scale of that success, together with Ford’s personal success in gaining absolute control of the firm and driving out subordinates with contrary opinions, set the stage for decline. Trusting in what he believed was an unerring instinct for the market, Ford refused to follow other automobile manufacturers in offering such innovative features as conventional gearshifts (he held out for his own planetary gear transmission), hydraulic brakes (rather than mechanical ones), six- and eight-cylinder engines (the Model T had a four), and choice of colour (from 1914 every Model T was painted black). When he was finally convinced that the marketplace had changed and was demanding more than a purely utilitarian vehicle, he shut down his plants for five months to retool. In December 1927 he introduced the Model A . The new model enjoyed solid but not spectacular success. Ford’s stubbornness had cost him his leadership position in the industry; the Model A was outsold by General Motors’ Chevrolet and Chrysler’s Plymouth and was discontinued in 1931.

Despite the introduction of the Ford V-8 in 1932, by 1936 Ford Motor Company was third in sales in the industry. Henry Ford meeting U.S. Pres. Franklin Roosevelt to discuss the New Deal and their differences, … Stock footage courtesy The WPA Film Library A similar pattern of authoritarian control and stubbornness marked Ford’s attitude toward his workers. The $5 day that brought him so much attention in 1914 carried with it, for workers, the price of often overbearing paternalism. It was, moreover, no guarantee for the future; in 1929 Ford instituted a $7 day, but in 1932, as part of the fiscal stringency imposed by falling sales and the Great Depression , that was cut to $4, below prevailing industry wages. Ford freely employed company police, labour spies, and violence in a protracted effort to prevent unionization and continued to do so even after General Motors and Chrysler had come to terms with the United Automobile Workers . When the UAW finally succeeded in organizing Ford workers in 1941, he considered shutting down before he was persuaded to sign a union contract.

During the 1920s, under Edsel Ford’s nominal presidency, the company diversified by acquiring the Lincoln Motor Car Company, in 1922, and venturing into aviation. At Edsel’s death in 1943 Henry Ford resumed the presidency and, in spite of age and infirmity, held it until 1945, when he retired in favour of his grandson, Henry Ford II . Henry Ford was a complex personality. Away from the shop floor he exhibited a variety of enthusiasms and prejudices and, from time to time, startling ignorance. His dictum that “history is more or less bunk” was widely publicized, as was his deficiency in that field revealed during cross-examination in his million-dollar libel suit against the Chicago Tribune in 1919; a Tribune editorial had called him an “ignorant idealist” because of his opposition to U.S. involvement in World War I, and while the jury found for Ford it awarded him only six cents.

One of Ford’s most publicized acts was his chartering of an ocean liner to conduct himself and a party of pacifists to Europe in November 1915 in an attempt to end the war by means of “continuous mediation.” The so-called Peace Ship episode was widely ridiculed. In 1918, with the support of Pres. Woodrow Wilson , Ford ran for a U.S. Senate seat from Michigan. He was narrowly defeated after a campaign of personal attacks by his opponent. In 1918 Ford bought a newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, and in it published a series of scurrilous attacks on the “International Jew,” a mythical figure he blamed for financing war; in 1927 he formally retracted his attacks and sold the paper.

He gave old-fashioned dances at which capitalists, European royalty, and company executives were introduced to the polka, the Sir Roger de Coverley , the mazurka, the Virginia reel, and the quadrille; he established small village factories; he built one-room schools in which vocational training was emphasized; he experimented with soybeans for food and durable goods; he sponsored a weekly radio hour on which quaint essays were read to “plain folks”; he constructed Greenfield Village , a restored rural town; and he built what later was named the Henry Ford Museum and filled it with American artifacts and antiques from the era of his youth when American society was almost wholly agrarian. In short, he was a man who baffled even those who had the opportunity to observe him close at hand, all except James Couzens, Ford’s business manager from the founding of the company until his resignation in 1915, who always said, “You cannot analyze genius and Ford is a genius.” Replica of shop where Henry Ford built his first automobile, Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Mich. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Overview of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, from the documentary … Great Museums Television (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Overview of Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, from the documentary … Great Museums Television (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Ford died at home in 1947, exactly 100 years after his father had left Ireland for Michigan. His holdings in Ford stock went to the Ford Foundation , which had been set up in 1936 as a means of retaining family control of the firm and which subsequently became the richest private foundation in the world. Ford Motor Company Timeline | Ford.com 1896 Henry Ford builds the Quadricycle. Henry Ford's first vehicle rode on four bicycle wheels and was powered by a four-horsepower engine. Instead of a steering wheel, the Quadricycle had a tiller. The gearbox had only two forward gears with no reverse. 1899 Henry Ford joins a group that founds the Detroit Automobile Company. Ford leaves company within one year. 1901 Henry Ford defeats the top racecar driver of the era.

Ford designed the 26-horsepower Sweepstakes and defeated Alexander Winton's 70-horsepower Bullet in 10 laps around the one-mile oval of the Detroit Driving Club. The victory lead to Henry Ford's second short-lived attempt at auto manufacture, the Henry Ford Company. 1903 The Ford Motor Company is incorporated. With 12 investors and 1,000 shares, the company had spent almost all of its $28,000 cash investment by the time it sold the first Ford Model A on July 23, 1903. But by October 1, 1903 Ford Motor Company had turned a profit of $37,000. 1904 Ford Motor Company of Canada is founded. Ford’s first international plant was built in Walkerville (now Windsor), Ontario, right across the Detroit River from Ford’s existing facilities. The company was a separate organization with its own set of shareholders. It was created to sell vehicles not just in Canada, but also all across the then-current British Empire. 1907 Ford introduces the scripted typeface of its trademark. Childe Harold Wills designed the Ford logo.

He used his grandfather’s stencil set, which was based on the style of writing taught in schools when Ford and Wills were children. However, the Ford oval would not be featured on a car until the 1927 Model A. 1908 Ford Introduces the Model T. Henry Ford’s Model T put the world on wheels with a simple, affordable, durable automobile. Ford sold 15 million Model Ts before ceasing production in May 1927, making it one of the best-selling vehicles of all time, and arguably the most famous car in the world. In 1908, there were only about 18,000 miles of paved roads in the US. To deal with the primitive roads, Ford used light and strong vanadium steel alloy for critical parts. At the time, most of the automobiles in existence were luxurious novelties rather than affordable transport. But to appeal to the mass market, Ford’s vehicle also had to be reliable and easy to maintain. Fortunately for millions of new drivers, it was. 1908 Ford opens its first overseas sales branch in Paris. 1913 Ford introduces the integrated moving assembly line to auto production.

Ford's innovation eventually reduced the Model T's chassis assembly line from 12.5 to 1.5 hours, and in doing so precipitated a revolution in manufacturing. The accelerating speed with which Ford could produce cars helped him continue to lower the price of the Model T. 1914 Ford institutes the famous "$5 Day". In 1914, $5 per day was double the existing pay rate for factory workers, and on top of that, Ford reduced the workday from nine to eight hours. The day after the “$5 Day” was announced, an estimated 10,000 people lined up outside Ford’s employment office hoping to be hired. Ford’s increased pay greatly improved employee retention since the monotonous and strenuous work of the moving assembly line was causing high turnover. The increased wage had the added effect of allowing many of Ford’s employees to purchase the cars they produced, and the eight hour workday allowed Ford to run 3 shifts a day instead of 2. The increased pay, increased leisure time, and even increased the personal mobility of car ownership were all critical factors in the creation of an American middle class. 1917 Ford begins construction of the River Rouge Complex.

It would become the largest integrated factory in the world by the following decade. Throughout its history, the self-contained Rouge Complex has contained a wide array of industries necessary to produce cars, including steel mills, a tire factory, a glass factory, a power plant and a reception depot for coal, iron ore, rubber and lumber. In the 1930s the complex employed over 100,000 workers. Today the River Rouge Complex continues to evolve to meet the needs of modern manufacturing processes. 1917 Ford Motor Company produces its first ever truck. The Ford Model TT was a truck based on the Model T car, but with a reinforced chassis and rear axle. This early pickup was rated at one ton. 1918 Ford’s River Rouge Complex begins manufacturing antisubmarine patrol boats. These 42 Eagle-class boats were the first product manufactured at the Rouge. In its efforts to aid the Allies in WWI, Ford also produced more than 38,000 Model T cars, ambulances, and trucks, 7,000 Fordson tractors, two types of armored tanks, and 4,000 Liberty airplane engines for the Allies.

Afterward, Ford hired disabled veterans returning from the war, making the automaker one of the first companies to hire people with disabilities and to adapt work environments to their specific needs. 1919 Edsel Ford succeeds Henry Ford as president of the company. On the same day, Henry Ford put a plan in place to buy out his investors and make himself, Clara Ford, and Edsel the sole owners of the business. Edsel’s interest in aesthetic automotive design brought a new dimension to Ford Motor Company, pushing the company to begin producing cars that were beautiful as well as practical. Edsel was also an extremely important art benefactor in Detroit, and one of the best-known paintings he commissioned was Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry mural. His aesthetic legacy lives on in the original Lincoln Continental. 1922 Ford acquires the Lincoln Motor Company. Ford purchased Lincoln from Henry Leland, his former business associate from the Detroit Automobile Company.

Since then, Lincoln has produced many luxury cars of historical and aesthetic note, including the 1931-1939 K-Series, 1936 Zephyr, Edsel Ford’s original Continental, the ensuing first-generation Lincoln Continental and the classic 1956-1957 Continental Mk. II. 1925 Ford begins production of Ford Tri-Motor airplanes. Ford’s plane was nicknamed the “Tin Goose,” a reference to the Model T’s nickname as the “Tin Lizzie.” The Tin Goose was one of the first airplanes used by America’s early commercial airlines. Combined with Ford’s reputation, application of assembly-line techniques and investment in Ford Airlines, the plane helped spur the creation of the commercial airline industry. And to further accelerate the industry’s development, Ford offered the plane’s 35 patents free of royalties, including his patent for the navigational radio beam. 1927 Ford begins selling the 1928 Model A. While the Model T dominated the auto industry from 1908 to the early 1920s, by the middle of the decade there was fierce competition from other automakers.

After the 15 millionth Model T drove off the assembly line on May 26, 1927, Ford closed plants all over the world to spend six months retooling factories and perfecting the design of a new car. Ford called the new car the Model A, commemorating Ford Motor Company’s first car, the 1903 Model A. The car was the first vehicle to sport the iconic Blue Oval logo, and it included innovative features like a Safety Glass windshield. By 1931 Ford had sold over five million Model As despite the difficulties of the Great Depression. 1932 Ford introduces the flathead V8 engine. As with the new Model A, Henry Ford shut down all other production operations to work on this innovative project. At great effort and expense, the company engineered a way to cast the first commercially successful V8 engine. The flathead was a hit. It was affordable, versatile, and introduced just as the American market was becoming fascinated with ever-more powerful engines. It remained in production for over 22 years. To this day the flathead remains extremely popular with hot rodders. 1936 Ford begins selling the Lincoln Zephyr line.

Much like the Mercury brand, Lincoln-Zephyr was designed to sell at a price point between the Ford V8 De Luxe and the high-end luxury cars offered by Lincoln. Lincoln-Zephyr’s sleek, aerodynamic shapes helped make the brand a sales success, but when auto production ceased during WWII, the Zephyr name was dropped as well. 1938 Ford unveils the medium-priced Mercury brand. Edsel Ford created Mercury cars to bridge the gap between affordable Fords and luxurious Lincoln cars. The first Mercury was the 1939 Mercury 8, which had a V8 engine and a stylish body characteristic of Edsel Ford's design sense. 1941 Ford begins producing Jeeps for the U.S. military. The vehicles were nicknamed for their "GP," or general-purpose designation. 1941 Ford signs its first contract with the UAW-CIO. After years of struggle between management and labor at Detroit's major automakers, Ford signed a contract guaranteeing better pay, benefits and working conditions for employees. 1942 Ford halts civilian auto production in the United States to produce military equipment.

Through its manufacturing expertise, Ford facilities built a staggering number of automobiles, planes, tanks, aircraft engines and other materiel for the war effort. By the end of WWII, Ford had produced more than 8,000 B-24 Liberator bombers. Charles Lindbergh, the famous trans-Atlantic pilot, worked as an advisor for the construction of bombers at Ford’s Willow Run plant. In 1944, Rose Will Monroe was working at Willow Run as a rivet gun operator when she was chosen to appear in a promotional film for war bonds. Rose became the personification of the fictional “Rosie the Riveter” character as depicted in the iconic “We Can Do It!” posters. 1943 Edsel Ford dies. Edsel was the only child of Henry and Clara Ford. After his death, Henry Ford returned to his former position as president of Ford Motor Company. Today, Edsel's legacy lives on in his contributions to the design of Lincoln cars and his generous backing of art in Detroit. 1945 Henry Ford II becomes president of Ford Motor Company.

The son of Edsel and the grandson of Henry Ford, Henry Ford II, served as president from 1945 to 1960 and as chairman and CEO from 1960 to 1979. When Henry II took over, the company and its bookkeeping practices were in disarray. With the help of ten former U.S. Army Air Force officers nicknamed the “Whiz Kids,” Henry II transformed the organization into a disciplined company with modern management systems – prepared for the global challenges of the post-war world. 1948 Ford introduces the F-Series line of trucks. With its first postwar truck design, Ford ceased building trucks on car platforms and used a purpose-built truck platform instead. The truck was available in eight sizes and weight ratings, from the ½ ton capacity F-1 to the three-ton capacity F-8. In 1953, Ford replaced the F-1 with the ½ ton F-100, along with the F-250 ¾ ton trucks and the F-350 one-ton trucks. In 1984, the F-100 was replaced by the F-150 line of trucks.

Since 1982, F-series has been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. View slideshow 1948 Ford introduces the 1949 Ford. The 1949 Ford was the first all-new American car design to come out of Detroit after WWII. With its wind tunnel-tested aerodynamic shape, integrated pontoon fenders, airplane-inspired spinner grille and an updated V8, the new car was as radical a change as the 1928 Model A. 1954 Ford introduces the Thunderbird. The T-Bird emphasized comfort and convenience over sportiness. With its performance, design and distinctive porthole windows, the car would become a classic. 1954 Ford begins crash testing its vehicles. In the 60 years since then, Ford has performed more than 31,000 crash tests around the world. In recent years Ford has also used virtual crash testing to maximize the quantity and availability of crash data. In tandem with physical testing, the crash simulations help Ford gather more data than ever before. 1956 Ford becomes a publicly traded company. At the time, Ford's initial public offering (IPO) of common stock shares was the largest IPO in history.

1956 The Continental Division of the Ford Motor Company introduces the Continental Mk II. Under Henry Ford's grandson, William Clay Ford, the 1956 Mk. II was a revival of the 1941 Continental that grew out of a custom car designed for Edsel Ford's private use. Edsel and designer E.T. Gregorie named these stylish and elegant cars for the inspiration they drew from the "continental" cars they saw in Europe. 1957 Ford introduces the Edsel. Introduced as a recession was beginning in the United States, the Edsel was simply the wrong car for the wrong time. However, the car's highly unique styling makes it a valuable collector's car to this day. 1959 Ford Credit is founded. The full name of Ford's financial services arm is Ford Motor Credit Company LLC, and today the company offers loans and leases to car buyers, in addition to loans and lines of credit for Ford and other dealerships. 1964 The Ford Mustang goes on sale. The Mustang came to define the pony car class with its combination of a long hood, short deck, affordable price and customization options.

The Mustang was a huge success, and today it remains one of the fastest-selling vehicles in history. With its role in movies like Bullitt and songs like "Mustang Sally," the car quickly became a cultural icon as well. 1965 Ford-Philco engineers unveil the Mission Control Center used to put a man on the moon. Ford owned Philco from 1961 to 1974, during which the company produced consumer electronics, computer systems, and military projects. In addition to designing, building, equipping and staffing Mission Control, Ford’s Philco electronics subsidiary performed support work for NASA’s Apollo and Gemini space programs thanks to Philco’s capabilities in transistors, solid-state devices, and microelectronics. Later, Ford Aerospace and Communications Corporation evolved out of Philco. In 1976 the company built seven INTELSAT V satellites for the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization. These satellites are still used today to send television transmissions and telephone calls between continents. 1965 Ford Germany and Ford U.K. collaborate to release the Transit in Europe. 1966 Three Ford GT40 Mk. IIs sweep the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Ford broke Ferrari's six-year winning streak at Le Mans to become the first American manufacturer to ever win the race. 1966 was the first of four consecutive victories for Ford, which won the 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans with various generations of the GT40. 1970 Ford introduces three-point, self-adjusting and retracting front outboard lap and shoulder belts. 1976 Ford of Europe introduces the Ford Fiesta. The subcompact hatchback became the company’s first internationally successful front-wheel drive model. At $870 million, its development budget was also the largest in Ford’s history. Moreover, Ford built a massive plant in Almusafes, Spain, near Valencia, to manufacture the car. The investments paid off, and the Fiesta broke the one-year sales record of the 1965 Mustang. From 1978 to 1981, Ford also sold the European Fiesta in North America. However, it wasn’t until 2009 that Ford would begin selling the Fiesta in the U.S. again. 1978 Ford introduces the downsized Panther platform.

The smaller platform debuted in response to rising oil prices and new fuel economy regulations. 1980 Phillip Caldwell succeeds Henry Ford II. Caldwell was the first non Ford-family member to become chairman and CEO of Ford. 1981 Ford begins selling the fifth-generation Escort world car. When the Ford Escort was first sold in North America, the car was designed to share components with the European Escort. As such, in its first year the North American car featured a badge with the name “Escort” superimposed over a globe instead of a blue oval. The car was one of Ford’s best-selling vehicles in the ‘80s. 1985 Ford revolutionizes automotive design with the Taurus. The Taurus’ aerodynamic “jelly bean” body style broke tradition with the boxy sedan shapes of the time, helping the car become one of Ford’s most popular vehicles ever. The car was an important part of a worldwide shift in automotive design. Within Ford, the car represented a shift toward increased quality standards and front-wheel drive designs. 1986 Ford introduces the modular assembly line at its St. Louis assembly plant. The modular assembly line made use of automated ancillary assembly lines to produce vehicle sub-assemblies.

The sub-assemblies were then added into the main assembly line. The trial run at St. Louis was a success, and today most Ford plants use modular assembly lines. 1990 Ford introduces the Explorer. In doing so, Ford helped launch the domestic SUV market. As SUVs became popular substitutes for family sedans, station wagons and vans, the Explorer became one of Ford’s most successful vehicles. The Explorer was a more comfortable and better-handling replacement for the Ford Bronco, which was discontinued in 1996. 1993 Ford introduces the Mondeo as its new global sedan. Though it was first introduced in Europe, the Mondeo was sold as the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique in the United States until 2000. Today the Mondeo is known as the Fusion in the United States. 1996 Ford produces the Ford Ranger Electric Vehicle. With lead acid batteries, regenerative braking, and a 700 lb. payload rating, the Ranger EV was a forerunner to today’s electric vehicles and hybrid energy systems. 1998 The introduction of the Lincoln Navigator spurs rapid growth in the luxury SUV segment.

2001 Ford's board of directors names Bill Ford to replace Jacques Nasser as CEO. The change helped the company return its focus to its core operations -- building cars -- and it realigned the company's values to emphasize its employees and the quality of its products. 2003 Ford celebrates its 100th anniversary. To commemorate the centennial of the company that put the world on wheels, Ford offered limited production centennial editions of five of the vehicles in its lineup at the time. Like the early Model T, the vehicles were offered in “any color so long as it is black.” 2004 Ford introduces the GT as its premium sports car. The mid-engine, 550 horsepower Ford GT was inspired by the legendary GT40 race cars that dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1966 to 1969. 2006 Alan Mullaly becomes Ford's President and CEO. Under Mullaly, Ford didn’t just weather the financial crisis of 2008 as the only American auto manufacturer to avoid receiving a government bailout loan.

Instead of waiting out the crisis, Ford continued to aggressively invest in product development so that when the economy recovered Ford products would be some of the best vehicles on the market. A key part of Mullaly’s leadership was the One Ford plan. One Ford envisioned every person in every part of the global enterprise as part of a single team united by a common culture and a shared goal to deliver outstanding products. 2007 Ford begins offering SYNC in vehicles sold as 2008 models. Created from a partnership between Ford and Microsoft, SYNC offers a hands-free, voice-activated connectivity system with mobile phone integration, navigation and voice-activated access to entertainment. Ford has continuously updated SYNC since its introduction in order to help drivers keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road while remaining connected to their technology. 2009 Ford begins offering its turbocharged EcoBoost line of engines. Delivering better fuel economy and more power than a naturally aspirated engine of the same size, Ford’s EcoBoost engines quickly became a popular choice in the U.S. and abroad.

2011 Henry Ford - Oxford Reference Oxford Reference Ancient history (non-classical to 500 CE) Early history (500 CE to 1500) Early Modern History (1500 to 1700) modern history (1700 to 1945) Contemporary History (post 1945) Literary studies (early and medieval) Literary studies (19th century) Literary studies (20th century onwards) Literary studies - fiction, novelists, and prose writers Literary studies - plays and playwrights Literary studies - poetry and poets Literary theory and cultural studies Shakespeare studies and criticism Social Welfare and Social Services Sociology Show all results sharing this subject: History (1863—1947) American motor manufacturer Quick Reference (1863–1947) US motor manufacturer. He was a pioneer of mass production and had a profound influence on the widespread use of motor vehicles. In 1909 Ford produced his famous Model T, of which 15 million were made over the next 19 years at gradually reducing prices due to large-scale manufacture, a succession of simple assembly tasks, and the use of a conveyor belt.

He went on to produce a cheap and effective farm tractor, the Fordson, which had a great effect on agricultural mechanization. Control of the Ford Motor Company passed to his grandson, Henry Ford II (1917–87), in 1945 and is now a huge multinational corporation. Among the first Henry Ford's philanthropic legacies is the Ford Foundation (established 1936), a major charitable trust.

Question: What relation was Henry Ford II to Henry Ford?
Answer: Grandson